Page 55 - TSB ebook

From LDFP Magz

OF IDLIS AND INVENTIONS

(Article written by our SBI PO 88ian, R.Kumar in our Home Magazine ‘Sangama’ in July,1989)
The moment one mentions inventions, we start thinking about highly sophisticated and complex
gadgets like Rockets, Computers, etc. On account of this, we lose track of what is happening in our
own backyard. Even the little things, which we nowadays take for granted, need as much ingenuity
and skill, as is required in designing a rocket or an aeroplane, if not more.

A day may come when we will take all these things for granted. For instance, let us take the case of
idlis. You may wonder, how such a ridiculous thing as an idli, involves even a shade of ingenuity, let
alone a great deal of it. I don’t blame you for thinking so; as it has come down to us over the
generations, we take idlis for granted.

Little do we know of the travails, undergone by the person who invented it. He would not only have
had to take troubles to invent it, but also to introduce it or rather innovate (to use the modern
version of the world) it to the public and gain its acceptance. To prove the point, this can be likened
to the situation, when Arkwright invented the Spinning Jenny at the advent of the Industrial
Revolution. He had to struggle to introduce the machine, even at the peril of this own life.

Let us now come to our present case of idlis. Just to imagine that, someone thought of grinding the
rice (preferably boiled) and black gram (peeled) into a paste in a 3:1 ratio and then mixing them
before proceeding to the final phases of steaming, is mind boggling. Perhaps, the perfection of the
final process in its present form evolved over a period of time. Still it takes a lot of thought process
to perfect.

Just think of having a metal sheet of iron and other implements, to start the process of assembling a
transistor. Unless one has an ingenious mind, he will not be able to proceed any further than
striking the metal sheets against each other. That is precisely the situation here. Just to bring a
particular flavour might be called an accident, but to commit such a series of accidents, one needs a
lot of perseverance and ingenuity. Not everyone can commit such a series of blunders. It is akin to
saying that, A.G.Bell invented the telephone merely by an accident.

Like the improvements and additions that came to be vested upon the telephone, we have a host of
side dishes that go along with the idlis, to titillate one’s taste buds while eating them. Just the
thought of adding a bit of chilli powder (gun powder!) mixed with gingelly oil or ghee makes the
mouth water. Or imagine having a variety of chutnies (coconut, coriander or the famous gongura) to
go along with the idlis.